Man in Scooby-Doo mask shows off new body

The Best of The Chronicle's Crime Blog

Henry K. Lee, John Coté, Will Kane

Published 5:21 pm, Saturday, January 12, 2013

FREMONT

Man in Scooby-Doo mask just showing off

Sometimes cops see the darnedest things in the middle of the night. Take early Wednesday, when witnesses called Fremont police to report that some guy was running around wearing a Scooby-Doo mask and - zoinks! - not much else.

The calls started coming in at 4:25 a.m. from people saying they saw a man running through the parking lot of the Lucky supermarket at 5000 Mowry Ave., said Geneva Bosques, a police spokeswoman.

They described him as "not wearing pants or possibly just underpants and wearing a 'Scooby-Doo' or bear-type head mask," police said.

Officers Miguel Sanchez and Mike Gilfoy arrived at the shopping center and found their man behind the Huddle bar. He was indeed wearing a Scooby-Doo mask, along with a black leather dog collar and leash and khaki-colored pants.

Asked what was going on, the 47-year-old man told officers that "he had recently lost weight and wanted to show off his new body," police said.

The cops let him go after determining that no crime had been committed.

LAS VEGAS

Law student sentenced - beheaded bird at hotel

A UC Berkeley law student pleaded guilty Thursday in an incident in which an exotic bird was beheaded at a Las Vegas resort in October.

Eric Cuellar, 24, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor instigating or engaging in animal cruelty and was sentenced to 48 hours of community service, ordered to attend an alcohol counseling class and told to pay a $200 fine and $150 in restitution.

Police said the two men were spotted throwing a dead 14-year-old helmeted guinea fowl, talking about how it was killed and "laughing about it" at the Flamingo Hotel at 9:35 a.m. Oct. 12.

Surveillance cameras filmed the men "chasing the bird into the trees" at the hotel's wildlife habitat, police said.

"A witness then observed the suspects emerge from the trees, carrying the body and severed head of the bird," police said.

Cuellar was seen tossing the corpse back and forth, authorities said.

- Will Kane

WINSLOW, ARIZ.

Union City man jumps in mine to 'appease gods'

A Union City man was rescued Friday from the bottom of a 100-foot mine shaft in Arizona, then told rescuers he had jumped in to "appease the gods," authorities said.

Parminder Singh, 28, was pulled to safety during an eight-hour rescue after he jumped feet-first into the mine on the floor of Meteor Crater, a meteorite impact site and tourist attraction near Winslow, Ariz.

Singh, who appeared to be a long-haul trucker, had parked a semi-tractor trailer at the Meteor Crater visitor center on Thursday, then hiked down into the crater, which is about a mile across, 600 feet deep and off-limits to the public, said Gerry Blair, a Coconino County sheriff's spokesman.

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